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Key events
Knicks 28-31 Spurs, 8:03, 2nd qtr: Wemby hits two free throws. The Spurs are 7-for-8 from the line. The Knicks are 0-for-0, a 0% mark.
Alvarado gets two for the Knicks. Anunoby gets a steal, but the Knicks can’t convert.
Then there’s a miss. And a miss. And another miss.
But the Knicks may finally get to the line as Wemby fouls Towns. The Spurs, outscored 9-4 so far in the quarter, will challenge the call.
Knicks 26-29 Spurs, 9:58, 2nd qtr: The Knicks are playing decent defense, and they force Wemby to launch a low-percentage long-range 3. But the rebound eludes them, and the Spurs get another chance. They miss that one, and Miles McBride hits a 3 with Wemby running at him.
Anunoby steals one from Wemby. Towns drives past Wemby again as he did in the first quarter, but Wemby recovers with a block. Jose Alvarado gets a shot and does the smart play – getting the ball immediately on the glass so that Wemby’s block is called for goaltending. Phew. What a sequence.
As I type, Castle and Towns trade baskets, and Towns beats Wemby on the dribble again and shields the ball well this time.
Stats
The leading scorer in the game didn’t start. It’s Dylan Harper with 10 for San Antonio. Champagnie has six (two threes) and Wemby has five. The leading San Antonio rebounders are Champagnie (five) and Castle (four). Wemby only has one.
OG Anunoby leads the Knicks with five points. Josh Hart has five rebounds and a block.
Knicks shooting: 8-for-24, a percentage even a weak math student can convert. The Spurs are just 9-for-25 but have five points on free throws, while the Knicks haven’t made it to the line.
Knicks 19-27 Spurs, end first quarter
Brunson is going to the locker room. Mikal Bridges alertly scores on a tip-in for a rare Knicks bucket, and neither team puts on an effective offensive show in the last minute, so New York ends the quarter on a 2-0 run. Every journey begins with a small step, right?
Knicks 17-27 Spurs, 1:27, 1st qtr: Brunson misses an awkward jumper. The Knicks star hasn’t had much success since the first shot of the game.
Champagnie hits another corner three and is fouled but misses the free throw.
The Knicks bungle things again, and we get more of the Dylan Harper show, as he hits a tough floater.
Timeout, New York – and Brunson came up limping after a player fell into his knee.
Kornet replaced Wemby with 5:27 left in the quarters. The Knicks led 14-10. Yes, the Spurs have outscored the Knicks 12-3 without the player expected to be the best player in basketball over the next 10 years or so.
Knicks 17-22 Spurs, 2:33, 1st qtr: Harper hits a long two … no, wait, it’s three, as replay confirms. Shamet answers for the Knicks to end their drought, but Champagnie hits from the corner, and the Spurs suddenly can’t miss.
Mitchell Robinson has entered the game and gathered a rebound for the Knicks, who have understandably just called timeout.
Knicks 14-16 Spurs, 3:49, 1st qtr: Luke Kornet has replaced Wemby, and while he won’t be chasing down his teammate for MVP honors anytime soon, he proves to be a defensive menace.
Dylan Harper snares an errant Knicks pass and is off to the races, drawing a foul. He hits both free throws.
Another bad Knicks pass, an alley-oop broken up by Kornet, sends Harper into open space again. He scores and draws a foul, then hits the free throws. That’s a 9-0 run, and the Spurs lead.
Knicks 14-11 Spurs, 5:00, 1st qtr: Stephon Castle, another of the Spurs’ young stars, gets a friendly bounce on a jumper. After some back and forth, Castle gets under the rim and draws a foul from Hart, his second in quick succession. Castle hits two free throws, and now the lead is just three.
Knicks 14-7 Spurs, 6:15, 1st qtr: Towns faces off against Wemby at the top of the arc and then pivots past him like he’s Messi against a traffic cone. Easy layup, even against a player with the wingspan of a cargo plane.
Knicks 12-7 Spurs, 7:28, 1st qtr: Things are messy. A scramble for the ball somehow ends up with Hart racing down an unguarded free throw lane for a layup. On his next trip down, he tries again with Wemby at the rim, and that’s a bad idea. Block, then a 3-pointer for the Spurs superstar.
De’Aaron Fox misses a wide-open corner three for the Spurs. Karl-Anthony Towns scores for the Knicks, and the Spurs will take a timeout. It’s not quite getting away from them early, but they could use a moment to settle down.
Knicks 6-2 Spurs, 10:20, 1st qtr: Referee Scott Foster is mic’d up. He yells like an auctioneer before throwing the ball up.
And we’re off. Knicks have possession, and Jalen Brunson drains a 3-pointer. Wemby hits a pullup jumper. The Knicks come back with Josh Hart winning a rebounding battle and tossing out to OG Anunoby for a corner three.
The national anthem is being performed by Tori Kelly, who waits a couple of seconds before starting and is gesturing as if something is wrong with her microphone. Sounds fine when she starts singing.
Let’s see what the Spurs have put together for their pregame … it’s set to the Kendrick Lamar song DNA and involves way too much pyro.
Everyone’s still trying to catch up with the classic Chicago Bulls intro. That had to be good for about 10 points a game. I think I’d want to hide under a chair if I was on the visiting team.
Are we actually about to start? I guess the 45-minute countdown a while back was … a test? Well, OK. Here we go.
From the inbox …
Ron Stack predicts Knicks in six: “I’m sure I saw the 1970 series although I was very young and don’t remember it. But as a New York sports fan from Long Island I remember consecutive disappointments from the Mets and Jets, as well as the Knicks and Rangers (no love for the Yanks or Giants and I had some beef with the Islanders that I can’t remember).
“I say Knicks in six because it sounds cool, but either they solve Wemby or they don’t. If they do, they can win it in five. If they don’t, they can lose it in five. I loved the series with OKC but I don’t see this as a battle of equals fighting it out in Game 7.”
******
Mac Milling: “Yes! ‘Relentless’ will also be Nandor to me. Three of my favorite shows of the last decade are all Waititi-adjacent – What We Do in the Shadows, Our Flag Means Death, and Reservation Dogs – which is odd, because Thor Love and Thunder is perhaps my least favorite film in that span.”
Knicks coach Mike Young on Spurs coach Mitch Johnson: “He’s light-years in front of me. He’s a way better coach than I was when I was a young guy.”
Unsurprising stat
The team that wins Game 1 of the Finals wins the series 69.6% of the time. Being one game closer to victory certainly helps. There’s also the matter of home-court advantage – the winner of Game 1 is either already taking advantage of the advantage or has negated it.
A clock on top of the basket is counting down from 45 minutes. I’ve forgotten the advanced math I learned in high school, but I’m getting the impression we won’t have tipoff at 8:30 p.m. ET. Pretty sure 45 > 12.
In a pregame interview, the awe-inspiring Spurs center Victor Wembanyana (I’ll be saying “Wemby” from here on) refers to his team as “relentless.” Does anyone else immediately think of Nandor from What We Do in the Shadows upon hearing that word?
Injury report
The Spurs are healthy.
Knicks center Mitchell Robinson has a broken right pinky but has dressed for the game and is available.
The waiting is the hardest part
The last time the Spurs won the NBA championship, Kawhi Leonard was the Finals MVP. The team had veteran leadership in Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. The No. 1 song was Happy, by Pharrell Williams. Others in the top 10 included John Legend, Katy Perry and Ariana Grande.
That was the scene in 2014. It’s been a little while, but these names are all familiar to most people over age 20. Certainly people over 30.
The last time the Knicks won the NBA championship, the Finals MVP was Willis Reed. Their leading scorer was Walt Frazier. The other All-Stars were Dave DeBusschere and Bill Bradley. People under age 35 probably don’t even remember when Bradley was a legitimate presidential contender, let alone an All-Star in the NBA. All in the Family and Sanford and Son were TV ratings juggernauts. Tony Orlando and Dawn had the year’s top song, Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree. The Vietnam War was still going.
You get the point. It’s been 53 years. Technically, the Knicks have won the NBA championship in my lifetime, but I was too young to remember. I only know about the Knicks of 1970 and 1973 from DeBusschere’s book, The Open Man: A Championship Diary. (I was in a couple of classes with his daughter in college and didn’t make the connection until after graduation. I am not smart.)
So sentimentality will surely favor the Knicks here. Those who want to see the official start of the Wemby era will favor the Spurs.
Let me know who you’re supporting and why. No judgment here.
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s how are writers see the series ending:
Your winner will be …
Knicks 4-2 Spurs. I’ll be the first to admit that I did not think the San Antonio Spurs would be this ahead of schedule. As impressed as I was with their first two rounds of play, I still thought they were a year away, and predicted that the conference finals were their ceiling. I stand corrected: they’re really, really good, and Wembanyama looks like the best player on Earth. But New York present a unique challenge, with far more ball handling and shot creation than the Spurs have faced thus far (they came up against an Oklahoma team missing two of their best in that department in Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell). The Knicks are on a heater the likes of which I’ve never seen in an NBA playoffs, and it’s been largely written off as the spoils of the weaker East. But they’re for real, and primed to play spoiler to the Spurs’ magical ride from lottery to finals. San Antonio will win at least one, if not several titles in the Wembanyama era. But this year, my money’s on the Knicks. Claire de Lune
Knicks 4-1 Spurs. The Knicks will frustrate Wemby, they will share the ball in a way the 1970s pass-first Knicks would relish. Towns will continue to unwind all the soft parts of his game. Anunoby will get to the basket with determined physicality. Mikal Bridges will slash and drain from mid-range. Brunson will take over down the stretch and Robinson, bad pinky and all, may even hit a few foul shots. As Nikola Jokić once said: “When is parade?” David Lengel
Spurs 4-2 Knicks. A Knicks win won’t surprise – they fared well against the Spurs during the regular season, they’re fresher, and they’ve been more dominant in the playoffs – but Wembanyama is transcendent and his supporting cast fits perfectly around him. After watching San Antonio overcome the Thunder in Oklahoma City, it’s too hard to bet against them knocking off anybody else. Owen Lewis
Spurs 4-3 Knicks. In our preseason predictions, I picked the Knicks to clinch an NBA finals berth, although I didn’t think they’d do it in such a dominant fashion. But the Knicks’ uncomplicated journey to the finals could be both a gift and a curse: after enduring a rigorous seven-game series against the defending champions, the Spurs are more battle-tested than New York. Their defensive discipline will halt the Knicks’ surging offense, and Wemby will be the series’ biggest X-factor. By the time the title is decided, it will be clear that the Wembanyama era has arrived. AR Shaw
You can read more detailed series predictions here:
Reacting to the report, Karen Newman, vice president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said: “Our public services must set the standard for confronting anti-Jewish hatred and discrimination, and we must ensure the NHS, one of our proudest national institutions, is safe and welcoming for every staff member or service user, regardless of faith or ethnicity.”
UK News
Middle East crisis live: US House rebukes Trump over Iran war; Tehran claims it struck American military ship in Gulf of Oman | US-Israel war on Iran
House passes war powers resolution to curb Trump’s authority in Iran
Robert Tait
The US House of Representatives delivered a stunning rebuke to Donald Trump over his war on Iran on Wednesday, as representatives backed a move to force him to seek approval from Congress or withdraw US forces.
The House voted 215 to 208 in favor of the war powers resolution, as four Republicans voted with Democrats.
Wednesday’s vote came nearly two weeks after House Republicans cancelled an earlier scheduled vote, on the grounds that they lacked the votes to defeat it.
The Senate voted last month to advance a resolution forcing Trump to seek congressional approval after four Republican senators rebelled and voted with the Democrats.
More here:
Key events
Israel and Lebanon agree to renew ceasefire
Israel and Lebanon have agreed to renew their shaky ceasefire and create a number of “pilot” security zones inside Lebanon from which Hezbollah militants would be banned.
In a joint statement released after a fourth round of US-mediated talks at the state department in Washington DC , the two sides said the ceasefire “is contingent on a complete cessation of Hezbollah fire and the evacuation of all Hezbollah operatives” from areas south of the Litani River”.
It was not immediately clear how the security zones would be established but the agreement calls for the Lebanese army to take full control of those areas, the Associated Press is reporting.
The statement said:
These steps will enable progress towards a comprehensive peace and security agreement. All countries reaffirmed that the future of the relationship between Israel and Lebanon must be decided by the two sovereign governments. They rejected any attempt, by any state or non-state actor, to hold Lebanon’s future hostage.”
The latter is a reference to Iran, which supports Hezbollah and is insisting that Israeli attacks on Lebanon be halted as part of a framework agreement with the US to end the conflict with Iran.
Hezbollah isn’t part of the Israel-Lebanon talks and firmly opposes the negotiations, saying it won’t abide by any agreements that may result from them.
The US is saying Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a fresh ceasefire.
The news is according to a joint statement with the US released by the State Department on Wednesday after talks in Washington DC.
Robert Mackey
The three top Democrats in the US House of Representatives have called for the Senate’s Republican leadership to pass the war powers resolution adopted by the House, which directs the president “to remove United States armed forces from hostilities with Iran”.
After the House voted 215 to 208 to approve the resolution, Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, whip Katherine Clark and caucus chair Pete Aguilar said in a statement:
More than three months ago, Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth plunged America into a reckless and costly war of choice in the Middle East without clear objectives, an exit strategy, public support or the authorization required by the United States Congress.
Republicans have since spent billions in taxpayer dollars and carelessly put our brave men and women in uniform into harm’s way while causing gas prices at home to skyrocket out of control … It is now time for Senate Republicans to do the right thing.”
Today so far
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Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday that Iran peace negotiations could be reached within days “ and that Iran is “pretty close” to signing an agreement with the US. “It could happen over the weekend,” he said.
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Trump also said that he wanted to separate Lebanon from the Iran peace talks because “it’s a very different kind of thing”. This came within hours after the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, warned that any attack on Beirut would trigger a “full-scale resumption” of the Middle East war.
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The US House of Representatives voted on Wednesday on a war powers resolution curbing Trump’s authority on the war in Iran. The vote came nearly two weeks after House Republicans cancelled an earlier scheduled vote, on the grounds that they lacked the votes to defeat it.
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Iranian state media reported on Wednesday that Iran had targeted a US military ship approaching Iranian waters in the Gulf of Oman – a claim that US Central Command disputed within minutes in a post on X. “Iran is lying,” the post reads. “US military assets at sea continue to fly, sail, and operate safely and unimpeded.”
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One person was killed and several people were injured in an Iranian drone attack that targeted Kuwait’s airport, according to authorities and state media. Kuwaiti authorities have denied Iranian claims that the US used Kuwaiti territory and airpace launch strikes and have summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires over the matter. The Kuwait defence ministry said it had intercepted 13 ballistic missiles and 17 drones launched by Iran on Wednesday.
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The Israeli military said it intercepted two projectiles that crossed into Israeli territory from Lebanon on Wednesday, after earlier announcing the interception of a “hostile aircraft” that had also crossed into Israel. “Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in the area of Misgav Am, the Israeli Air Force intercepted two projectiles that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory,” the military said, referring to a community on the northern border.
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Lebanon’s health ministry said two paramedics were killed on Wednesday in an Israeli strike on the country’s south, with at least 130 emergency and health workers now killed since the Israel-Hezbollah war began in March. A ministry statement said that “the Israeli enemy directly targeted an ambulance belonging to the Risala Scouts Association”, which is affiliated with Hezbollah ally the Amal movement, adding that “this resulted in the martyrdom of two paramedics and left a third with highly critical injuries.
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The Lebanese armed forces said a soldier was killed “as a result of being targeted by an Israeli raid” while he was travelling between the towns of Nabatieh and Kfar Tebnit in southern Lebanon. The state-run National News Agency reported at least six people in southern Lebanon were killed by Israeli drone strikes, while Israel said it intercepted a hostile aircraft likely fired by Hezbollah.
House passes war powers resolution to curb Trump’s authority in Iran
Robert Tait
The US House of Representatives delivered a stunning rebuke to Donald Trump over his war on Iran on Wednesday, as representatives backed a move to force him to seek approval from Congress or withdraw US forces.
The House voted 215 to 208 in favor of the war powers resolution, as four Republicans voted with Democrats.
Wednesday’s vote came nearly two weeks after House Republicans cancelled an earlier scheduled vote, on the grounds that they lacked the votes to defeat it.
The Senate voted last month to advance a resolution forcing Trump to seek congressional approval after four Republican senators rebelled and voted with the Democrats.
More here:
Israel, Netanayahu have been ‘a great partner’, Trump says
Donald Trump continued his remarks on Wednesday by calling Israel and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, “a great partner”.
“Israel, hey look, they’ve been a great partner. Bibi Netanyahu’s been, for me, a great partner. For other people, not so good. For me, he’s been very good,” Trump said.
Trump continued:
“We were very effective, what we’ve done. They needed us. They couldn’t have done it without us, couldn’t even come close. They needed us and they got us to help them with a real problem because Iran was a real problem, a big problem, a worldwide problem. They wouldn’t have stopped with Israel. They would have blown up the Middle East.”
Trump says he wants to separate Lebanon, Iran peace talks
Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he wanted to separate Lebanon from the Iran peace talks because “it’s a very different kind of thing”.
Iran has long insisted that any deal to end the wider Middle East war – which its ally Hezbollah joined on 2 March – must also halt the fighting in Lebanon.
”We’re trying to separate it. It’s a very different kind of a thing. We actually spoke to Hezbollah for the first time ever. We didn’t know they spoke,” Trump said. “They agreed yesterday that they’re not going to shoot, Israel isn’t going to shoot. We’re just going to see. But I’d like to separate it. I’d like to have a separate thing. Because it is separate.”
On Wednesday, the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, warned that any attack on Beirut would trigger a “full-scale resumption” of the Middle East war.
Trump says Iran peace negotiations could be reached ‘over the weekend’
Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday that Iran is “pretty close” to signing a peace agreement with the US and that “it could happen over the weekend”.
“Anything can happen when you’re dealing with Iran … That’s a very volatile part of the world, probably the most volatile part of the world. The people are volatile. The leadership, you see what’s going on,” he said.
But he went on to say that negotiations were going well and that Tehran and Washington could reach an agreement within days. He maintained that the heart of the negotiations come down to Iran agreeing to never own, develop or buy a nuclear weapon.
Trump said that given the strength of the US military, “we could go another two, three weeks and just wipe everybody out”.
“I’d rather not do that,” he said. “It’s very easy to do. They’re ready to do it, they want to do it but if we can get something down in writing that can accomplish the same thing without killing everybody, I’d like to do that. Most of my people would like to do that. Some people wouldn’t, but most people would.”
Iran claims to have hit US military ship, but US says ‘Iran is lying’
Iranian state media reported on Wednesday that Iran has targeted a US military ship approaching Iranian waters in the Gulf of Oman.
Within minutes, US Central Command (Centcom) disputed that claim on X.
“Iran is lying,” the post reads. “US military assets at sea continue to fly, sail, and operate safely and unimpeded.”
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi warned on Wednesday that any attack on Beirut would trigger a “full-scale resumption” of the Middle East war, as Israel pressed its campaign against Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Iran has repeatedly insisted that any deal to end the wider Middle East war – which its ally Hezbollah joined on 2 March – must also halt the fighting in Lebanon.
“The fate of the war between Iran and the Zionists [Israel] and Americans is inseparable from the fate of the battle in Lebanon, and these two fronts have been intertwined since day one,” Iranian news agencies quoted Araghchi as telling Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen TV, reports AFP.
“Any attack on Beirut will have grave consequences and will lead to a full-scale resumption of the war,” he continued, adding Iran’s “armed forces are ready to strike Israel if it attacks Beirut”.
He also insisted that for the war in Lebanon to end, Israeli forces must get out of the country.
“The end of the war in Lebanon also means the end of the occupation. That is, the end of the war must be accompanied by the withdrawal of the Zionist regime’s forces from the areas they have occupied,” he told the pro-Hezbollah Lebanese broadcaster.
His comments came as Israeli and Lebanese diplomats were to hold a second day of direct talks in Washington.
They are part of a fourth round of talks since the fighting in Lebanon erupted when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader.
Hezbollah is sharply opposed to the direct negotiations.
A meeting between Hamas and Gaza truce mediators in Egypt has been postponed until Sunday, a source close to the movement said, as it demanded Israel halt ongoing attacks in the Palestinian territory.
The meeting had originally been planned for Wednesday in the Mediterranean city of El-Alamein, and was set to include a Hamas delegation headed by chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, along with Palestinian factions such as Islamic Jihad and mediators from Egypt, Turkey and Qatar.
“Hamas and the Palestinian factions are expected to begin consultative meetings in Cairo next Saturday” ahead of meetings between the Palestinian movements and the mediators on Sunday, a source close to the negotiations told AFP.
The source said Hamas had “requested to postpone the talks”, calling them meaningless amid “Israeli intransigence”.
Hamas spokesperson Taher al-Nunu said the movement was in “intense consultations” with the mediators to ensure “real results on the ground”.
“The mediators must compel the occupation to halt the assassinations, bombardment and starvation”, and “expedite the entry of the national committee for the administration of Gaza”, he said, referring to the 15-member board created under the truce deal, which has not yet been allowed to enter the territory it is charged with running.
A transition to the second phase of the ceasefire, which was supposed to involve Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual withdrawal of the Israeli army, has been stalled for months.
Iran foreign minister: Contact with Washington has not been cut off
Abbas Araqchi, the Iranian foreign minister, said in an interview with the Lebanese broadcaster Al Mayadeen on Wednesday that Tehran’s contacts with Washington have not been cut off, Reuters reports.
However, no progress has been made in negotiations, Araqchi said.
Earlier, Araqchi had posted on X that Iran’s armed forces are conducting self-defense strikes on sites the US is permitted to use to attack civilian shipping and violate the ceasefire.
Araqchi added that any hostile act will be met with an immediate, decisive response from Iran.
Here are some images coming out of Lebanon today:
Sirens have sounded in northern Israel over a possible hostile aircraft infiltration in the area of Zar’it, which is located near the Lebanese border, the IDF said.
More details to come.
Here is some video from the earlier Iranian strikes that hit Kuwait international airport today, killing one person and wounding several others:
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